Reading MR with the Chinese tango

roger64 · 11-08-2015, 06:54 PM

Hi

You are probably aware that Google is not received in China. Mobile Read suffers no trouble there, except at the awkward moment when you wish to open any MR thread, or you wish to go from page 1 to page 2 of the same thread. For reasons beyond me, at that precise moment there is a connection to Google from MR. This is enough to freeze the reading. With a little luck, after some minutes it may recover but needless to say this takes out most of the enjoyment of perusing the MR site.

Unless you use the "Chinese tango".

I explain this perfectly legal trick.

As soon as you realize that your request is frozen, you press the backward button (left arrow) and immediately after that the forward one (right arrow). Magically your requested page is correctly displayed. I find this quick backward-forward movement oddly reminiscent of tango, hence the above nickname.

I hope the readers in China will learn the trick. Even if it is quite simple, it took me too long to uncover it...

WT Sharpe · 11-09-2015, 10:59 AM

As MobileRead is sponsored by Google ads, even thought they are disabled once people sign in, and as China doesn't allow Google to operate there, I don't how we could make this unpleasant process you described any easier to handle on our end short of eliminating our income stream altogether, and I don't see that happening. The government must be blocking the site because of the residue bit of Google in the code. At least you've found a workaround, and I thank you for sharing that. Hopefully it will help other members in China.

JSWolf · 11-09-2015, 09:28 PM

Or you could block Google in Hosts (if running Windows) or use Ghostery to with Firefox to block Google.

roger64 · 11-09-2015, 10:48 PM

@JSWolf

I already use "Privacy Badger" which detects trackers. Folowing your above advice, I installed Ghostery on Firefox 42 and blocked (pop-up window with a violet Google analytics in line-through) the only one signalled tracker, "Google Analytics".

This did not change anything for viewing purposes in China, and the browser kept stalling on the signalled changes of pages (without resorting to the "tango").

I did not see any option that allows to block Google as a whole and if I block everything else that can be blocked, it will be detrimental for general viewing purposes.

As I am a Linux user,I could not try your Windows proposed solution.

eschwartz · 11-10-2015, 12:18 AM

JSWolf's claim that Hosts is a Windows solution is entirely erroneous.

Just take a look in /etc/hosts
Redefine google.com to point to 127.0.0.1 or something.
Rinse and repeat for troublesome subdomains.

Or run a more fully-featured solution like dnsmasq.

It is literally as simple as adding:

Code:

address=/.google.com/127.0.0.1

to your /etc/dnsmasq.conf

P.S. I don't believe Windows' implementation of Hosts would support wildcard subdomains either, so you'd still have to use an actual DNS server.

11-08-2015, 06:54 PM	#1
roger64 Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 3120635 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Kindle PW3 (wifi)	Reading MR with the Chinese tango Hi You are probably aware that Google is not received in China. Mobile Read suffers no trouble there, except at the awkward moment when you wish to open any MR thread, or you wish to go from page 1 to page 2 of the same thread. For reasons beyond me, at that precise moment there is a connection to Google from MR. This is enough to freeze the reading. With a little luck, after some minutes it may recover but needless to say this takes out most of the enjoyment of perusing the MR site. Unless you use the "Chinese tango". I explain this perfectly legal trick. As soon as you realize that your request is frozen, you press the backward button (left arrow) and immediately after that the forward one (right arrow). Magically your requested page is correctly displayed. I find this quick backward-forward movement oddly reminiscent of tango, hence the above nickname. I hope the readers in China will learn the trick. Even if it is quite simple, it took me too long to uncover it... Last edited by roger64; 11-08-2015 at 07:07 PM.

11-09-2015, 10:59 AM	#2
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	Reading MR with the Chinese tango As MobileRead is sponsored by Google ads, even thought they are disabled once people sign in, and as China doesn't allow Google to operate there, I don't how we could make this unpleasant process you described any easier to handle on our end short of eliminating our income stream altogether, and I don't see that happening. The government must be blocking the site because of the residue bit of Google in the code. At least you've found a workaround, and I thank you for sharing that. Hopefully it will help other members in China.

11-09-2015, 10:48 PM	#4
roger64 Wizard Posts: 2,624 Karma: 3120635 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Kindle PW3 (wifi)	@JSWolf I already use "Privacy Badger" which detects trackers. Folowing your above advice, I installed Ghostery on Firefox 42 and blocked (pop-up window with a violet Google analytics in line-through) the only one signalled tracker, "Google Analytics". This did not change anything for viewing purposes in China, and the browser kept stalling on the signalled changes of pages (without resorting to the "tango"). I did not see any option that allows to block Google as a whole and if I block everything else that can be blocked, it will be detrimental for general viewing purposes. As I am a Linux user,I could not try your Windows proposed solution. Last edited by roger64; 11-09-2015 at 11:00 PM. Reason: Google

11-10-2015, 12:18 AM	#5
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	JSWolf's claim that Hosts is a Windows solution is entirely erroneous. Just take a look in /etc/hosts Redefine google.com to point to 127.0.0.1 or something. Rinse and repeat for troublesome subdomains. Or run a more fully-featured solution like dnsmasq. It is literally as simple as adding: Code: address=/.google.com/127.0.0.1 to your /etc/dnsmasq.conf P.S. I don't believe Windows' implementation of Hosts would support wildcard subdomains either, so you'd still have to use an actual DNS server. Last edited by eschwartz; 11-10-2015 at 12:20 AM.

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11-09-2015, 09:28 PM	#3
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,392 Karma: 145491800 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Or you could block Google in Hosts (if running Windows) or use Ghostery to with Firefox to block Google.

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